the 8th Edition of the Rome Independent Film Festival finally begins. It'll take place from March the 19th to the 27th , at Nuovo Cinema Aquila, with several European and Worldwide screenings.

The International Jury, that will assign the prizes for the different sections, is composed by the actresses Valentina Cervi and Sabrina Impacciatore, by Manetti Bros, directors appreciated by the young audience, Paul Zonderland, Director of the Italian Walt Disney Motion Pictures Studio, the producer Umberto Massa, the journalist Ahmad Rafat, the director Rachid Banhadj and the documentary journalist Milena Kaneva.

Among the Italian long-movies we'll have Marco Carniti's “Sleeping Around”, with Anna Galiena; Barbara and Monica Sgambellone's “Tutto intorno a Linda”; Michael Margotta's “Miss Julie”; Stefano Coletta's “Appuntamento a ora insolita” (that will open the festival for the Italian Section) and Marcello and Dario Baldi's “ Narciso”.

The foreign long-movie section has seen a high quality selection too: Steve McQueen's “Hunger”, Cannes' Camera D'or Prize for the Best Prime Work winner; Ramtin Lavafipour's “Be calm and count to 7”, Rotterdam Film Festival 2009 winner; and Joan Kramer's “Sing for Darfur”, very appreciated during the International Tokyo Film Festival, and opening movie, for the foreign section, on Friday 20th opening night.

Among the selected Italian short-movies, Daniele Anzellotti's “Lotta”, with Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Filippo Nigro, Paolo Briguglia, Rocco Papaleo; Stefano Viali's “Un'infermiera di nome Laura”; Andrea Costantini's “L'ultima volta”; Giuseppe Pizzo's “Nero Apparente”; Massimo Natale's “Amiche”; Francesco Apice's “La preda”.

Our long-movies, documentary and short-movies Calendar comprehends films from all over the world, also with Italian and International Prime Works, not yet distributed in theaters.

The different documentaries will touch several social themes, with pictures and stories coming from every corner of the globe: Palestine, India, China, Ecuador, Cambodia, Mauritania, Cuba.
We will also deal with Environmental Cinema, with the support of the Short Short Festival of Tokyo and the Gecofilmfest.

The Human Rights Event will be focused on social marginality and on the supporting projects for war and poverty victims. There will also be a meeting between the audience and the Associations Save the Children and Pangea Onlus.

During the festival Workshops and seminars will also take place on topical themes, directly linked with cinematographic production and an European Forum with Producers from Producer on Move Project.
A tribute to independent music, in collaboration with MEI (Independent Labels Meeting), closes the Riff 2009 schedule.